CH S 503 Chicana/o and the aRTS: Decolonizing AztlÁn, Performing Coatonatiuh the Sixth Sun of Consciousness, Creativity, and Wisdom

Course Information Overview

• CH S 503 Chicana/o and the Arts
• Meets Tuesday 7:00-9:45PM
• Jerome Ric 153

Course Description

This graduate seminar explores Mexican, Mexican-American or Chicana/o and Latina/o history, culture, society, spirituality, identity, and aesthetics. Working within a transdisciplinary framework, students are introduced to a variety of critical perspectives from several specialties including ethnomusicology; folklore; cultural anthropology; performance, ethnic, queer, critical race, Chicana/o and gender studies; and others. This course covers dance, performance, music, and visual arts and the political economy of culture. Students read current scholarship devoted to the role of the arts in the expression of ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, spirituality, identity, and nationalism among the diasporic and diverse communities throughout Greater Mexico, Latin America, with particular focus on the Southwest Borderlands. Students learn various aesthetic/cultural values, artistic styles, performers, playwrights, forms, genres and criticism and are encouraged to utilize their artistic expression into their own political activism.

Course Prerequisites

Chicana/o and the Arts will rely on and utilize the universitie's newest classroom technology. Students must sign up for moodle and set up online class profile: Moodle http://moodle.csun.edu. If you have never used this technology, see http://docs.moodle.org to access moodle and to learn how to navigate this program. Students should check grades, announcements, chat-rooms, forums, events, links, quizzes, and study guides which will be posted weekly on Moodle. If you have any problems, see the CSUN moodle web site for suppporting documentation and other resources. Please read Peter Garcia's web page and online syllabus beforehand and read the CSUN Student Conduct Code and Academic Policy before the second week of class.

 

Student Learning Objectives

Course Objectives

1. This seminar requires student attendance of local cultural, community, and civic events including art exhibits, music concerts, live shows, theater performances, and/or dances in order to develop a sense of individual responsibility in supporting human creativity and encouraging diverse, ethnic, and avant-garde modes of self-expression. Support of the arts must occur at the level of community support and participation from within local cultures since institutions of higher learning are organically connected to particular locales, universities are obliged to offer courses that develop a strong supportive student role throughout southern California and within Chicana/o and all ethnic communities.

Assessment: Students prepare at least two 2 page double spaced written critiques following a standard 5 paragraph essay format discussing the hype, price, quality, and audience participation. Students learn aesthetic criticism and artistic concepts in readings and class lectures that provides them with the necessary theories, understanding, and vocabulary by which to evaluate and critique cultural events, exhibits, festivals, or artistic performance. In other words, the report needs to show what you have read or learned from the reading assignments.

2. One of the aims of this critical reading seminar is to enhance your literary and technological enthusiasm with an assortment of academic perspectives on a variety of cultural and arts topics relevant to your own personal and public lives as Chicana/o graduate students, creative artists, and political activists. The first couple of weeks will average three readings increasing to an average of four through midterm and up to five following Spring Break. By endterm, students ought to read those selections most relevant to your final projects but still be prepared to participate in group discussions.

Students are assigned at least four readings and will prepare a brief precís or annotated overview of article, chapter, or essay to be used as a reference or study guide for reports and final projects. Early in the semester, students should have read the entire syllabus and made their initial preferential reading selections. After deciding which reading assignments you hope to present, email me at least eight to twelve choices from each set of topics: dance, music, performance, and visual art. Try to organize your calender so that you present at least once every four weeks. Students will be signed up as discussion leaders and proceed with preparations for your assignments and group discussions on the designated days. Readings will be assigned on a first come first serve basis and you may earn make up or extra credit with additional precís/powerpoint presentation or solo performances if time permits. I suggest you organize your calenders early and attempt to spread your assignments over the semester so you don't have to present during two consecutive weeks.

Students should prepare a 5 to 6 slide powerpoint presentation leading the class in a group discussion over the reading assignment which will also be posted on Moodle. Please label the file with your last name followed by (student number) and precís #1, 2, 3, or 4. The first slide should include your name, class information and the full citation of the article or chapter you are presenting. Title (in quotes), author's name, and book or volume title (italicized) should all be centered. The second slide should include your brief precís demonstrating your critical reading skill in creatively synthesizing the scholarly articles or book chapters into abstract annotations. The remaining slides ought to explain vocabulary, illustrate important concepts, or review and critique various theories used in the scholarly analysis. Your presentation should also include important internet links, photos, audio footage, youtube, or additional media and cool video files that are related to the case studies or that illustrate the cultural and art forms you are presenting. Don't forget a statement regarding the credibility of the source including who posted it and created it and for what purpose. Your final slide may include some of the discussion and study questions provided in the syllabus or you may prepare new questions with class discussion open for general platica (conversation). Some articles are best prepared listening to songs or viewing performances discussed in the literature. Your presentation should include at least 10 minutes of presentation including youtube videos, photographs, art works, or live performance/demonstration and a minimum of 5-10 minutes of class discussion and some critical evaluation of the lesson. All students are expected to have read the materials (3 or 4 articles or chapters per week) and be prepared to discuss all or most of the reading assignments. You should take notes on all reading assignments and are encouraged to ask additional questions and/or seek clarification on material that is covered. This experience is a group project with mutual cooperation from the class, instructor, and discussion leader. Constructive criticism and a mutual respect and professionalism is always expected especially in evaluating each other's creative work and scholarly presentations.

 

How to prepare a précis: A summary or a précis is NOT a personal interpretation of a work or an expression of your opinion of the idea; it is, rather, an exact replica in miniature of the work, often reduced to one-quarter to one-fifth of its size, in which you express the complete argument! What actually happens when you write a précis? First, you must understand the complete work so that you can abstract the central argument and express it cogently and completely. Next, you must develop the argument exactly as the writer has presented it AND reduce the work by 75-80% of its size. Of course, this is possible when you consider exactly how you "learn" to critically read the work. The key word here is assimilation. When you read the material, it is probable that you will understand only those parts which have associations within your own experience (intellectual, emotional, physical, cultural, class, gender, sexuality etc.). How you actually go about writing a precis depends largely on your ability to restate the writer's central ideas after you have assimilated them in your own mind. Here are the rules of the game:

a. Read all of the articles as many times as necessary most carefully and critically.

b. Write a précis for your article in which you state the entire argument and present the logical progression (the development) of the critical argument as clearly and cogently as possible.

c. Reduce the article to one-fifth to one-quarter of its original length and omit nothing from the essential argument. This is, in reality, the key to the whole enterprise!

d. Type the précis and begin with your abstraction of the central, inform-ing idea of the article. Having understood and written the central idea, present the essential argument in as cogent manner as possible. (Clue: Once you have assimilated the article through the musical illustrations, notated transcriptions and examples the writer uses to make his/her abstract ideas concrete, you do not have to include these in your précis!)

e. Here is a central rule: Do not copy a single sentence from the article! You may use key words and phrases only when you are expressing ideas which are technically precise or when you feel comfortable using the writer's own words, i.e., you understand exactly what he or she means, and there is really no better way to express the concept.

Finally, in order to complete this assignment, you will have to read all of the assigned articles for the day and most carefully, ask questions about the literature repeatedly, and reach into your own experiences so that you can shape most cogently all of the writer's concepts! This assignment is not easy! When you have completed it well, you will never, never forget the arguments, the examples, and the development of the articles. More than likely you will also be learning that, when you write research papers and other critical papers, your ability to write the précis is central to the basics of analysis, synthesis, comparison, and other key, higher order thinking skills absolutely required for your success in research applications and in the profession or career you have chosen when you graduate.

Assessment: Students are expected to have completed all of the weekly reading assignments before coming to class and have prepared notes and questions for the discussion leader. Many of the works are discussed in terms of aesthetics, emotional content and impact, rehearsal preparation and final presentation, enthusiasm and performance ability, musical, theatrical, and dance talent and exceptionalism. Discussions should attempt to make broader conceptual connections across the arts and through aesthetics.

3. Students read current scholarship, criticism, and ethnography devoted to the role of the arts in the expression of ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, spirituality, identity, and nationalism among the diasporic and diverse communities throughout Greater Mexico and the Southwestern Borderlands.

Students are encouraged to develop their artistic talents and utilize their artistic expression into their own political activism. Live performance is encouraged and interactive artistic participation is also welcome.

Assessment: Students are expected to use theory and language learned in readings and media assignments in written reports and in class discussions and artistic masterclasses.

 

Grading

 

Assignments/Grading:

Final Research Paper and/or Creative Project -screenplay, oral history, ethnography of performance, dramatic script, musical composition, choreographed dance performanc, art exhibit/catalog, photo montage, or media production w/brief narrative paper: 30 points

Topical Quizzes (15 points total)-dates and details posted on moodle.

Pocha Nostra Workshop with Critical Essay/Performance as Radical Pedagogy Assignment - Students will be assigned to various chapters and performance pieces from Guillermo Gomez-Peña and Roberto Sifuentes Exercises for Rebel Artists: Radical Performance Pedagogy and Guillermo Gomez-Peña's Ethno-Techno: Writings on Performance, Activism and Pedagogy. Students will prepare a brief overview of assigned reading and present one of the performance exercises, rituals, games to cross borders, performance radio, performance literature for the stage and cyberspace, and conversations with theorists. Final critical essay will discuss performance as radical pedagogy and artistic activism explaining the history of "Pocha method" as a new form of aesthetic resistance for Chicana/o, Latina/o, Women/Gender, ethnic/critical race, cultural/media/performance, and Queer studies. Essay is 5-6 page double spaced following MLA style with quotes and discussion of your own performance and creative art (15 points).

Précis/Powerpoint/Discussion Leaders-Students must complete at least 4 précis leading the class in group discussion of reading materials. Powerpoints will be posted on moodle and précis are due no later than the week following the discussion. Each precís is worth 5 points/20 points total.

Artistic Reports over Performance, Art Exhibit, Festival- Attendance of two artistic, religious, or cultural events with brief reports (such as a music concert/art exhibit/dance/theater/culinary/cinematic/cultural/religious event or occasion) Due week 7 and 14 (10 points each/20 points)

Toltec Oracle Mirror of Life or Chat Leadership Extra Credit 6 points

Final Project Details and Installment Due Dates

Research papers, music or dance composition, script, and/or in-class performances will be submitted in five installments. Late installments will not be accepted for any reason. If you can’t make it to class the day of a deadline, you may submit your assignment via email or U.S. mail postmarked on or before the deadline (see address under section d). The last two class meetings will be spent evaluating and discussing creative works and projects.

1. At the end of week 4, students will submit the introduction of the paper proposing an individual or group research project, dance or music composition, screenplay, solo or theatrical performance (including title) or art exhibit/photo installation with catalog. Introduction should be approximately one page in length. The thesis should be stated in bold print at the end of the introduction. Worth 3 points of overall project.

2. At the end of week 8, students will submit the background research section of the research paper, creative work, dance composition, photo installation or music performance. The paper should serve as the basis of your final presentation addressing information paraphrased or quoted from various sources including material covered in class. References/bibliography should be included with at least 5 or 3 different sources depending on your project. If you take ideas from a source and either quote them directly or put them into your own words (paraphrase) you must cite the source. Otherwise, you are guilty of plagiarism (see Appendix E-2 Academic Dishonesty of the CSUN 2009-2010 Catalog). Background section should be approximately 5 pages in length. 2 points.

3. At the end of week 11, students may submit an interview/analysis section of the research paper, descriptive/prescriptive score of composition, oral history, analysis of photographs, art catalog, or musical text/translation/score for performance. Visual arts should submit photos of work in progress with commentary and analysis. Music/oral history should submit CD recording or transcript, dance should include video. The ethnographic/oral history interview should not be in a question and answer format but should rather be framed by commentary, criticism, and analysis by the student. Interview/analysis section should be approximately 4 pages in length and include substantial quotes directly related to the thesis of the paper, oral history, performance, catalog, play, or creative project. Worth 5 points.

4. At the end of week 14, students will submit the entire portfolio including research paper, screenplay, composition, oral history with a minimum of about 7 to 12 pages of text, including title page, introduction, background and analysis, interview, composition, dance or music/dance performance analysis, conclusion, reflection, photographs and references. Worth 20 points

5. Weeks 14 and 15 shall be designated as in-class presentations of research papers, oral histories, art exhibits, photo installations, music/dance compositions, theater performances and/or visual art works. Individual students and groups may have up to 30 minutes to present, perform, and explain your creative and research projects. Students will provide written comments and constructive criticism evaluating the presentations, compositions, and performances and determine a written score assessing the effort, delivery, topic, and overall project. Comments will be submitted to instructor and will be used in the overall evaluation which will then be forwarded to students at the final exam.

 

Attendance, Tardiness, and Leaving Early

Good class attendance, participation, and attitude are a critical part of the learning experience. Attendance and participation count towards your grade. Each absence beyond any three hours of class will lower the final grade by 3 points. Two tardies or leaving early without letting me know in advance shall be counted as one absence.

Course Schedule

Week 1: Introduction, Syllabi, Course Requirements

Discuss: Mythological origins of Mexican Music and Aztec belief systems.

Read: Royball, Jimmy Newmoon “Danza” (pp. 218-220) in the Enyclopedia of Latino Popular Culture 2004, Volume 1. Connecticut: Greenwood Press. Cordelia Candelaria, Arturo Aldama and Peter J. Garcia, editors.

Read: Omayra Cruz and Raiford Guins "Entangling the Popular: An Introduction to Popular Culture: A Reader" and "Delineating: Culture-Mass-Popular" Pp. 1-23

Read: Sandoval, Chela, Arturo J. Aldama and Peter J. García "Toward a De-Colonial Performatics of the US Latina and Latino Borderlands" in Performing the US Latina/o Borderlands.

Read: Olga Nájera-Ramírez, Norma E. Cantú, Brenda Romero (editors) “Introduction” in Dancing Across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanas

Read: José Esteban Muñoz "Introduction Performing Identifications" in Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics.

Read: Madrid, Alejandro "Introduction: Nor-tec and the Borders" Pp. 3-23 in Nor-Tech Rifa: Electronic Dance Music from Tijuana to the World

Read: Introduction: Elaine Peña in Guillermo Gomez-Peña's Ethno-Techno: Writings on Performance, Activism and Pedagogy.

View: Danzante 1992 Miguel Grunstein PBS Video

 

Week 2: Azteca and Conchero Danza Recuperation and Performance

Read: Raymond Williams. "Culture" and "Masses" Pp. 25-32 in Popular Culture: A Reader edited by Omayra Cruz and Raiford Guins.

Discussion Leader:

Read: F.R. Leavis. "Mass Civiliation and Minority Culture" Pp. 33-38 in Popular Culture: A Reader edited by Omayra Cruz and Raiford Guins.

Discussion Leader:

Read: Renée de la Torre Castellanos “Embodied Recuperations: Performance, Indigenous Line of Descent” in Dancing Across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanas

Discussion Leader:

Read: Maria Teresa Ceseña “Creating Agency and Identity in Danza Azteca” in Dancing Across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanas

Discussion Leader:

Read: (Estrada) “The “Macho” Body as Social Malinche” Pp. 41-62 in Gaspar de Alba’s Velvet Barrios: Popular Culture and Chicana/o Sexualities (on e reserve)

Discussion Leader:

Read: "On the Other side of the Mexican Mirror" in Guillermo Gomez-Pena's Ethno-Techno: Writings on Performance, Activism and Pedagogy

Pocha Nostra Workshop Leader:

Recommended: Sandra Garner "Aztec Dance, Transnational Movements: Conquest of a Different Sort" Journal of American Folklore122(486): 414-437.

Recommended Disssertations: The rituals of kindness: The influence of the Danza Azteca tradition of central Mexico on Chicano-Mexcoehuani identity and sacred space by Aguilar, Mario E., Ph.D., THE CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY, 2009, 662 pages

Recommended Thesis: Dancing in the street: Danza Azteca as cultural revitalization and spiritual liberation for Chicanos by Guerrero, Raquel Hernandez, M.H., UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT DENVER, 2010, 228 pages.

Recommended Thesis: Dancing Amoxtli: Danza Azteca and Indigenous Body Art as Forms of Resistance by Veronica Valadez, CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY NORTHRIDGE, 2012, 246 pages.

 

Week 3: Fiesta y Danza

Read: Dwight Macdonald "A Theory of Mass Culture" pp. 39-46 in Popular Culture: A Reader.

Discussion Leader:

Read: Stuart Hall "Notes on Deconstructing 'The Popular'" pp. 64-71 in Popular Culture: A Reader.

Discussion Leader:

Read: Xóchitl C. Chávez “La Feria de Enero: Rethinking Gender and Ritual in Festival” in Dancing Across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanas

Discussion Leaders:

Read: Norma E. Cantú “The Semiotics of Land and Place: Matachines Dancing in Laredo, Texas” in Dancing Across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanas

or "Performing Indigeneity in a South Texas Community" in Performing the US Latina and Latino Borderlands.

Discussion Leaders:

Read: Brenda M. Romero "The Matachines Danza as Intercultural Discourse" in Dancing Across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanas

Discussion Leader:

Read: Peter Garcia “Bailando Para San Lorenzo: Nuevo Mexicano Popular Traditional Musics, Ritual Contexts, and Dancing during Bernalillo Fiesta Time” in Dancing Across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanas

Discussion Leaders:

Read: "In Defense of Performance" in Guillermo Gomez-Peña's Ethno-Techno: Writings on Performance, Activism and Pedagogy

Pocha Nostra Workshop Leader:

View: Los Matachines de la Santa Cruz

 

 

Week 4 Baile Folklorico, Spanish Language Children's Songs and Games, and Tourism

Due: Final Project Proposal

Read: Karl Marx "The Fetishism of Commodities and hte Secret Thereof" pp. 89-95 in Popular Culture: A Reader.

Discussion Leader:

Read: Thodore Adorno "Culture Industry Reconsidered" Pp. 103-108 in Popular Culture: A Reader.

Discussion Leader:

Read: Fredric Jameson "Reification and Utopia in Mass Culture" pp. 115-128 in Popular Culture: A Reader:

Discussion Leader:

Read: (Herrera-Sobek) “Danger! Children at Play: Patriarchal Ideology and the Construction of Gender in Spanish-Language Hispanic/Chicano Children’s Songs and Games” Pp. 81-99 in Cantú and Nájera-Ramírez’s Chicana Traditions: Continuity and Change

Discussion Leader:

Read on e reserve: Royball, Jimmy Newmoon “Baile Folklórico” (pp. 52-55) in the Enyclopedia of Latino Popular Culture 2004, Volume 1. Connecticut: Greenwood Press. Cordelia Candelaria, Arturo Aldama and Peter J. Garcia, editors.

Read: Olga Nájera Ramirez “Staging Authenticity: Theorizing the Development of Mexican Folklórico Dance” in Dancing Across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanas

Discussion Leaders:

Read: Sydney Hutchinson "The Ballet Folklórico de Mexico and the Construction of the Mexican Nation Through Dance” in Dancing Across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanas

Discussion Leaders:

Read: Rudy F. García “Dancing Culture: A Personal Perspective on Folklórico” in Dancing Across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanas

Discussion Leaders:

Group Performance or Class Read: "An open leter to the national arts community" in Guillermo Gomez-Peña's Ethno-Techno: Writings on Performance, Activism and Pedagogy

 

Week 5 Baile: Danzón, and Verbal Art

Read: Guy Debord: "The Commodity as Spectacle" pp. 109-114 in Popular Culture: A Reader.

Discussion Leader:

Read: Lisa Lowe and David Lloyd "Introduction to The Politics of Culture in the Shadow of Late Capital"pp. 129-146 in Popular Culture: A Reader.

Discussion Leader:

Read: John H. McDowell "Sociolinguistic Contours in the Verbal Art of Chicano Children"Pp. 165-193 in Aztlan:International Journal of Chicano Studies Research, Vol. 13 no 1-2 Spring Fall 1982.

Discussion Leader:

Read: Nancy Lee Chalfa Ruyter “Gender as a Theme in the Modern Dance Choreography of Barro Rojo” in Dancing Across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanas

Discussion Leaders:

Read: Susan Cashion “The Mexican Danzón: Restrained Sensuality” in Dancing Across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanas

Discussion Leaders:

Read: Marie “Keta” Miranda “Dancing to “Whittier Boulevard”: Choreographing Social Identity” in Dancing Across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanas

Discussion Leaders:

Read: Johnson, Gaye T.M. “A Sifting of Centuries: Afro-Chicano Interaction and Popular Musical Culture in California, 1960-2000”. Pp. 316-329 in Decolonial Voices: Chicana/o Cultural Studies in the 21st Century.

Discussion Leader:

Read: Delgado, Fernando Pedro “Chicano Ideology Revisited: Rap Music and the (Re)articulation of Chicanismo” Pp. 95-113 in Western Journal of Communication, Vol. 62, No. 2 Spring 1998.

Discussion Leader:

Read: Gomez-Peña "Crosscontamination: The Performance Activism and Oppositional Art of La Pocha Nostra" in Ethno-Techno: Writings on Performance, Activism and Pedagogy

Read: Gomez-Peña "Track five: Conversations with Theorists" in Ethno-Techno: Writings on Performance, Activism and Pedagogy

Pocha Nostra Workshop Leader:

 

Week 6 Los Mariachis, Trio,and Jarocho music in Los Angeles

Read: Sheehy, Daniel “Mexícan Mariachi Music: Made in the U.S.A.” Pp. 133-154 in Music of Multicultural Americas: A Study of Twelve Musical Communities.

Discussion Leader:

Read: Jaquez, Cándida “Meeting La Cantante Through Verse, Song, and Performance” Pp. 167-182 in Chicana Traditions: Continuity and Change.

Discussion Leader:

Read: George Torres "The Bolero Romántico: From Cuban Dance to International Popular Song" in From Tejano to Tango edited by Walter Aaron Clark @2002 Routledge. (on e-reserve)

Discussion Leader:

Read: Yolanda Broyles-González "Remembering Chelo Silva: The Bolero in Chicana Perspective (Women's Bodies and Voices in Postrevolutionary Urbanization: The Bohemian, Urban, and Transnational) in Performing the US Latina and Latino Borderlands.

Discussion Leader:

Read: Loza, Steven “From Veracruz to Los Angeles: The Reinterpretation of the Son Jarocho” Pp. 179-194 in Latin American Music Review , Vol. 13, No. 2 Fall/Winter 1992. University of Texas Press

Discussion Leader:

Read: Martha González “Zapateado Afro-Chicano Fandango Style; Self Reflective Moments in Zapateado” in Dancing Across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanas

Discussion Leader:

Read: Gomez-Peña "La Pocha Nostra's basic methodology" in Ethno-Techno: Writings on Performance, Activism and Pedagogy

Or Read: Gómez-Peña "Introduction: Performance as Radical Pedagogy-- a brief hisotry of the 'Pocha method" in Exercises for Rebel Artists: Radical Performance Pedagogy

Pocha Nostra Workshop Leader:

.

Week 7 Corridos, Rancheras, Boleros, and Cantantes

Due: Artistic Report #1

Read: Gradante, William “El Hijo del Pueblo”: José Alfredo Jiménez and the Mexican Canción Ranchera” Pp. 36-59 in Latin American Music Review, Vol. 3, No. 1 Spring/Summer 1982. University of Texas Press.

Discussion Leader:

Read: Correa, Fabio. 1995 "Quitarse la ropa y cantando al sexo: Gloria Trevi y la trampa rockera de la juventud mexicana" in Latin American Music Review/Revista de Música Latinoamericana, Vol 16, No. 1, Spring/Summer 1995 University of Texas Press.

Discussion Leader [Spanish Article]:

Read: Pedelty, Mark “The Bolero: The Birth, Life, and Decline of Mexican Modernity” Pp. 30-58 in Latin American Music Review , Vol. 20, No. 1 Spring/Summer 1999. University of Texas Press.

Discussion Leader:

Read: (Espinoza) “Tanto Tiempo Disfrutamos . . .: Revisiting the Gender and Sexual Politics of Chicana/o Youth Culture in East Los Angeles in the 1960s” Pp. 89-106 in Gaspar de Alba’s Velvet Barrios: Popular Culture and Chicana/o Sexualities.

Discussion Leader:

Read: Simonett, Helena “Narcocorridos: An Emerging Micromusic of Nuevo L.A.” Pp. 315-337 in Ethnomusicology @2001.

Discussion Leader:

Read: Roberto Hernández "Sonic Geographies and Anti-Border Musics: 'We Didn't Cross the Border, the Borders Crossed Us." in Performing the US Latina/o Borderlands.

Discussion Leader:

Recommended Read: Violence, Subalternity, and Border Thinking in Corridos Fronterizos (unpublished Honor's Thesis) 2002 by Roberto Hernández UC-Berkeley

Read: Peter J. García"Te Amo, Te Amo, Te Amo": Lorenzo Antonio and Sparx Performing Nuevo México Music in Performing the US Latina/o Borderlands.

Discussion Leader:

View: Tribute to Lalo Guerrero

Recommended Read: Reyes and Waldman’s Land of A Thousand Dances: Chicano Rock ‘n’ Roll from Southern California

or Steve Loza Barrio Rhythm: Mexican American Music in Los Angeles.

Archival Reference: Guerrero, Mark Chicano Music Articles

The articles give the following information on the artists: a.) background and history b.) accomplishments c.) information on recordings, including what is currently available and where to get it d.) current projects, if any e.) in some cases, what's to come including opinions, and personal and musical experiences with the artists. Artists covered have achieved international fame, others a momentary national notoriety or long-lasting regional success but all enjoyed various fame or monetary success, but nevertheless created and recorded music worthy of recognition and preservation. Most of the articles are based on personal interviews and hence provide an insider “emic” native musician perspective. Photos of the artists available in the "Photo Gallery" page with free “sound bytes” of their music at the end of each article. Sound bytes provide students with opportunities to hear many of the groups and artists covered.

Read: Gomez-Peña and Sifuentes "Aims and Motivations of a Pocha Nostra Performance Workshop" in Exercises for Rebel Artists: Radical Performance Pedagogy

Read in class: Gomez-Peña "Brownout 2" in Ethno-Techno: Writings on Performance, Activism and Pedagogy

Pocha Nostra Workshop Leader:

 

Week 8 Nor-Tech Rifa

Due: Background Information research and Bibliography for Final Project.

Read: Madrid, Alejandro Chapter One: Origins Revisited: Myth and Discourse in the Nortec Collective in Nor-Tech Rifa!: From Tijuana to the World

Discussion Leader:

Read: Madrid, Alejandro Chapter Two: Tradition, Style, Nostalgia and Kitch in Nor-Tech Rifa!: From Tijuana to the World

Discussion Leader:

Read: Madrid, Alejandro Chapter Three: Getting the Word Around in Nor-Tech Rifa!: From Tijuana to the World

Discussion Leader:

Read: Romero, Brenda "Lila Down's Borderless Performance: Transcultural and Musical Communication" in Performing the US Latina/o Borderlands

Discussion Leader:

Read: Arturo J. Aldama "No Somos Criminales: Crossing Borders in Contemporary Latina and Latino Music" in Performing the US Latina/o Borderlands

Discussion Leader:

Read: Pancho MacFarland "Mexica Hip Hop: Male Expressive Culture" in Performing the US Latina/o Borderlands

Discussion Leader:

Kun, Josh “What is an MC If He Can’t Rap to Banda? Making Music in Nuevo L.A.” Pp. 741-758 American Quarterly

Discussion Leader:

Read: Gomez-Peña and Sifuentes "Notes to Producers and Workshop facilitators: useful suggestions for preparing a performance workshop inspired by La Pocha Nostra" in Exercises for Rebel Artists: Radical Performance Pedagogy

Read: Gomez-Peña "track three: Performance Radio" in Ethno-Techno: Writings on Performance, Activism and Pedagogy

Pocha Nostra Workshop Leader:

View: Chicano rock!: the sounds of East Los Angeles [videorecording] DVD ML 394 .C45 2009

 

Week 9 Nor-Tec

Read: Madrid, Alejandro Chapter Four: "Where's the Donkey Show, Mr. Mariachi?": Reterritorializing TJ in Nor-Tech Rifa!: From Tijuana to the World

Discussion Leader:

Read: Madrid, Alejandro Chapter Five: Producers, DJs, VJs, and the Performance of Nor-tec in Nor-Tech Rifa!: From Tijuana to the World

Discussion Leader:

Read: Madrid, Alejandro Chapter Six: Dancing with Desire in Nor-Tech Rifa!: From Tijuana to the World

Discussion Leader:

Read: Madrid, Alejandro Chapter Seven: Nor-tec and the Postnational Imagination in Nor-Tech Rifa!: From Tijuana to the World

Discussion Leader:

Read: (Broyles-González) “Ranchera Music(s) and the Legendary Lydia Mendoza: Performing Social Location and Relations” Pp. 183-206 in Cantú and Nájera-Ramírez’s Chicana Traditions: Continuity and Change

Discussion Leaders:

Read: Geirola, Gustavo “Juan Gabriel: Cultura Popular y Sexo de los Angeles” Pp. 232-267 in Latin American Music Review, Vol. 14, No. 2 Fall/Winter 1993. University of Texas Press.

Discussion Leader (Spanish article):

Read: "Identifying and Preparing the Space" in Exercises for Rebel Artists: Radical Performance Pedagogy

Solo Performance/Dramatic Reading: Gomez-Peña "America's Most Wanted Inner Demon"in Ethno-Techno: Writings on Performance, Activism and Pedagogy

Pocha Nostra Workshop Leader:

 

Week 10 Performance Art

Read: José Esteban Muñoz Chapter One: Famous and Dandy Like B. 'n' Andy Race, Pop, and Basquiat in Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics

Discussion Leader:

Read: José Esteban Muñoz Chapter Two: Photographies of Mourning Melancholia and Ambivalence in Van DerZee, Mapplethorpe, and And Looking for Langston in Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics

Discussion Leader:

Read: Micaela Díaz-Sánchez "Body ad Codex-ized Word/Cuerpo Como Palabra (en-) Códice-ado: Chicana/Indígena and Mexican Transnational Performative Identities" in Performing the US Latina/o Borderlands.

Discussion Leader:

Read: Angie Chabram-Dernersesian "The Other Train That Derails Us: Performing Latina Anxiety Disorder in 'The Night before Christmas" in Performing the US Latina/o Borderlands

Discussion Leader:

Read: Daphne V. Taylor-García "Decolonizing Gender Performativity: A Thesis for Emancipation in Early Chicana Feminist Thought (1969-1979) in Performing the US Latina/o Borderlands

Discussion Leader:

Read: Daniel Enrique-Perez Chapter One: Gender, Sexuality, Beauty, and Chicano/Latino Men in Rethinking Chicana/o and Latina/o Popular Culture

Discussion Leader:

Read: Daniel Enrique-Perez Chapter Two: (Re)Examining the Latin Lover: Screeing Chicano/Latino Sexualities in Rethinking Chicana/o and Latina/o Popular Culture

Discussion Leader:

Read: "Important Notes to Workshop participants" in Exercises for Rebel Artists: Radical Performance Pedagogy

Solo Performance/Dramatic Reading: Gomez-Peña "A Declaration of Poetic Disobedience from the New Border" in Ethno-Techno: Writings on Performance, Activism and Pedagogy

Pocha Nostra Workshop Leader:

 

 

Week 11 Brown and Queer

Due: interview and analysis, script, score, or performance details for final project

Read: Daniel Enrique-Perez Chapter Three: (Re) Reading the Chicano Literary Canon in Rethinking Chicana/o and Latina/o Popular Culture

Discussion Leader:

Read: Daniel Enrique-Perez Chapter Four: La Movie Rara: Viewing Queer Chicana/o and Latina/o Identities in Rethinking Chicana/o and Latina/o Popular Culture

Discussion Leader:

Read: Daniel Enrique-Perez Chapter Five: Rape, Violence, and Chicana/o and Latina/o Identities in Rethinking Chicana/o and Latina/o Popular Culture

Discussion Leader:

Read: Emma Pérez "Decolonial Border Queers: Case Studies of Chicana Lesbians, Gay Men, and Transgender Folks in El Paso/Juarez" in Performing the US Latina/o Borderlands

Discussion Leader:

Read: Maria Lugones "Milongueando Macha Homoerotics: Dancing Tango, Torta Style (a Performative Testimonio) in Performing the US Latina/o Borderlands.

Discussion Leader:

Read: Paloma Martínez-Cruz & Liza Ann Acosta "El Macho: How the Women of Teatro Luna Became Men" in Performing the US Latina/o Borderlands.

Discussion Leader:

Read: José Esteban Muñoz Chapter Four: "The White to Be Angry" Vaginal Creme Davis's Terrorist Drag" in Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics

Discussion Leader:

Read: "Words to try to Avoid when conducting a workshop" in Exercises for Rebel Artists: Radical Performance Pedagogy

Solo Performance/Dramatic Reading: Gomez-Peña "cyber-placazos" in Ethno-Techno: Writings on Performance, Activism and Pedagogy

Pocha Nostra Workshop Leader:

 

Week 12 April 14, 2010 La Pocha Nostra Guillermo Gomez-Peña

Due: Pocha Nostra Workshop with Critical Essay/Performance as Radical Pedagogy Assignment - Students will be assigned to various chapters and performance pieces Guillermo Gomez-Peña and Roberto Sifuentes Exercises for Rebel Artists: Radical Performance Pedagogy and Guillermo Gomez-Peña's Ethno-Techno: Writings on Performance, Activism and Pedagogy. Students will prepare a brief overview of assigned reading assigment and present one of the perormance exercises, rituals, games to cross borders, performance radio, performance literature for the stage and cyberspace, and conversations with theorists. Final critical essay will discuss performance as radical pedagogy and artistic activism explaining the history of "Pocha method" as a new form of aesthetic resistance for Chicana/o, Latina/o, Women/Gender, ethnic/critical race, cultural/media/performance, and Queer studies. Essays are 5-6 pages double spaced following MLA style with quotes and discussion describing your performance experience and creative art.

Read: (Gutiérrez) “Deconstructing the Mythical Homeland: Mexico in Contemporary Chicana Performance” Pp. 63-74 in Gaspar de Alba’s Velvet Barrios: Popular Culture and Chicana/o Sexualities (on reserve)

Discussion Leader:

Read: José Esteban Muñoz Chapter Three: "The Autoethnographic Performance Reading Richard Fung's Queer Hybridity" in Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics

Discussion Leader:

Read: Richard Fung "Looking for My Penis: The Eroticized Asian in Gay Video Porn" in Popular Culture: A Reader

Discussion Leader:

Read: (Marrero) “Out of the Fringe: Desire and Homosexuality in the 1990s Latino Theater” Pp. 283-294 in Gaspar de Alba’s Velvet Barrios: Popular Culture and Chicana/o Sexualities.

Discussion Leader:

Read: José Esteban Muñoz Chapter Five: Sister Acts Ela Troyano and Carmelita Tropicana in Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics

Discussion Leader:

Read: José Esteban Muñoz Chapter Six: Pedro Zamora's Real World of Counterpublicity Perfroming an Ethics of the Self in Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics

Discussion Leader:

Read: Marivel T. Danielson "Loving Revolution: Same-Sex Marriage and Queer Resistance in Monica Palacio's Amor y Revolución in Performing the US Latina/o Borderlands

Discussion Leader:

Gomez-Peña and Sifuentes: Performance exercises, rituals, and games to cross borders:

Part 1: "Hands-on" physical and perceptual exercises

Part 2: Conceptual and poetic exercises

Pocha Nostra Workshop Leader:

 

Week 13 Guillermo Gomez-Peña and Chicano/a Art

Read: Paredes, Américo. "The United States, Mexico, and Machismo" [1993] Folklore and Culture on the Texas-Mexican Border. Ed. Richard Bauman. Austin: CMAS Books, Center for Mexican American Studies, University of Texas at Austin.

Discussion Leader:

Read: Gabriel S. Estrada "Indian Icon, Gay Macho: Felipe Rose of Village People" in Performing the US Latina/o Borderlands

Discussion Leader:

Read: Victor M. Rios & Patrick Lopez-Aguado 'Pelones y Matones': Chicano Cholos Perform for a Punitive Audience in Performing the US Latina/o Borderlands

Discussion Leader:

Read: Paul Willis "Symbolic Creativity" in Popular Culture: A Reader

Discussion Leader:

Read: Dick Hebdige "Subculture"in Popular Culture: A Reader

Discussion Leader:

Read: George Vargas: Chapter One: Chicano Art as American Art in Contemporary Chican@ Art: Color and Culture for a New America

Discussion Leader:

Read: George Vargas: Chapter Two: The Emergence of Chicano and Chicana Art in Contemporary Chican@ Art: Color and Culture for a New America

Discussion Leader:

Read: Paredes, Américo. "Folk Medicine and the Intercultural jest" [1993] Folklore and Culture on the Texas-Mexican Border. Ed. Richard Bauman. Austin: CMAS Books, Center for Mexican American Studies, University of Texas at Austin.

Discussion Leader:

Gomez-Peña and Sifuentes: Performance exercises, rituals, and games to cross borders:

Part 3: Exercises to generate performance material and living images

Part 4:The infamous Pocha "jam sessions"

Pocha Nostra Workshop Leader:

 

Week 14 Chicana Politics and Art

Due: Artistic Report #2

Read: Tomas Ybarra-Frausto’s “The Chicano Movement/The Movement of Chicano Art” in Exhibiting Cultures: the Poetics and Politics of Museum Display. ed. By Ivan Karp and Steven D. Lavine. @1992 Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press (on reserve).

Discussion Leader:

Read: George Vargas: Chapter Three: Resistance and Affirmation in the 1990s in Contemporary Chican@ Art: Color and Culture for a New America

Discussion Leader:

Read: George Vargas: Chapter Four: Into the Tweny-First Century in Contemporary Chican@ Art: Color and Culture for a New America

Discussion Leader:

Read: George Vargas: Chapter Five: Catalogue of Selected Chicana and Chicano Artists in Contemporary Chican@ Art: Color and Culture for a New America

Discussion Leader:

Read: José Esteban Muñoz Chapter Seven: Performing Disidentity Disidentification as a Practice of Freedom in Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics

Discussion Leader:

Read: William Anthony Nericcio "Roland Barthes, Mojado, in Brownface: Chisme-laced Snapshots Documenting the Preposterous and Fact-laced Claim that the Postmdern Was Born along the Borders of the Río Grande River" in Performing the US Latina/o Borderlands

Discussion Leader:

Read: Catherine S. Ramírez "Deus ex Machina: Tradition, Technology, and the Chicanafuturist Art of Marion C. Martinez" in Aztlán: Journal of Chicana/o Studies 29:2 Fall 2004 University of California

Discussion Leader:

Gomez-Peña and Sifuentes: Performance exercises, rituals, and games to cross borders:

Part 5: Preparing for a public performance

Pocha Nostra Workshop Leader:

Week 15 : Final Presentations

Due: Final Project Papers

Week 16 8:00-10:00PM Final Presentations